If you’ve considered buying a 3D printer, you’ve probably also considered the cost of the 3D printer controller. While 3D printers themselves have become more accessible in terms of price, the convenience of a 3D printer-controller combo is still a major consideration. But the good news is that there are many different controllers that fit a wide range of budgets.
Here, we’ve rounded up the best 3D printer controllers to help you find the right one for your needs.
Read on to learn more.
Our Editor’s Best 3d Printer Controllers Reviews
Bestseller No. 1
Official FLSUN V400 Delta 3D Printer Fast 400mm/s Printing Speed with Full Metal Direct Extruder 7- inch Touchscreen Support WiFi Connect Remote Control FDM 3D Printers Printing Size φ300mm*410mm
- 【400mm/s High-Speed Printing & 8000+ mm/s² acceleration】: FLSUN V400 is equipped with klipper firmware and ultra-light short-range extruder design, double-drive wire feeding structure+5-1 reducer+36 high-temperature high-precision stepping motor, and the extrusion force can reach 70N, meeting the requirements of 400mm/s High-Speed Printing & 8000+ mm/s² acceleration.
- 【FLSUN Speeder Pad】: 7-inch wide angle IPS screen Pre-installed full Klipper firmware ( Klipper, Moonraker, Mainsail, KlipperScreen, WebCAM, etc.）, plug and play, no additional configuration is needed.
- 【Unique robotic arm design】: 3K grade material using the same process as high-end drones. Thickened to 10mm in diameter, high strength carbon fibre rod + aerospace aluminium housing + POM bearing wear resistance. Zero clearance lightweight and high strength design, gathering structural rigidity and positioning in one.
- 【Self-developed levelling algorithm】：through 25 points to compensate for machining errors, easily solve the first layer problem. Supports broken material detection.
- 【Bi metal 300℃ high-temp nozzle】： Allow you to choose more kinds of filament like PLA PLA+ WOOD TPU ABS PETG PC NYLON(NEED DRIED).
$1,089.00
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Bestseller No. 2
Entina Tina2S 3D Printers with Wi-Fi Cloud Printing, Fully Assembled and Auto Leveling Mini 3D Printer for Beginners, High Precision Printer with Smart Control and Heated Spring Steel Build Plate
- 🎅Mini 3D Printers： Entina TINA2S - a 3D printer for beginners and children, compact body, ready to use out of the box, fully assembled, no complicated settings to start printing, SD card, and APP comes with multiple models, fully meet the printing needs of entry-level players, instantly start the perfect printing experience!
- 🎅Completely intelligent: equipped with the new self-developed APP, massive model library, to achieve one-click control of the printer. Print at your own pace, you can choose to print in multiple ways via APP/USB/Wiibuilder slicing software, fully open source and compatible with Cura, Simplify3d and Slicr3r slicing software.
- 🎅Upgraded wifi printing: upgraded wifi module with 5 times faster file transfer speed, supporting faster and more stable file transfer for a perfect printing experience. Convenient networking design, use PP local APP to network with one click and say goodbye to tedious network settings!
- 🎅Humanized design: built-in led light, at any time and anywhere to observe the printing process of the printer, more clearly show the working status of the printer. Quick-change test nozzle to reduce the printer clogging problem, greatly reducing the difficulty of replacing accessories, making the printer easier to operate, dual Z-axis guide design, to ensure stable movement!
- 🎅Ultra-quiet printing environment: full silent motherboard, give your family a quiet printing environment, upgraded fan support a key to switch the silent mode, the high speed fan helps to achieve better molding effect and excellent print quality, reduce the loss of supplies.
$199.00
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Bestseller No. 3
Mini Heater for 3D Printer, Resin 3D Printer Temperature Controller Heating Thermostat Temp Control for LCD DLP 3D Printers
- 【Use for】Resin 3D printer mini heater designed for Resin 3D printers, it is small but powerful, for use in cold weather. It helps you to heat up the resin and rise the ambient temperature. Make your 3D printer work well, save your time and Resin material.
- 【Professional design】Our temperature controller use in cold weather,when temperature lower than 75F/24C, will cause so many problems in LCD DLP 3D print. Such as Print not sticking to the bed, Layer adhesion, warming, and so on. Finally, printing fails.
- 【Professional design】Our 3D printer heater built in high-precision temperature sensor, accurate to 0.1 ℃. Fireproof case, high-quality power cord, all professionally designed for your safe printing.
- 【Small size】Our 3D printer Thermostat 10.8x5.7x3.2cm/4.25x5.24x1.25 in, 117grams, Prefect for 8-15 inch Resin 3D printer, It only takes 10 minutes from 40F to 80F, for use in cold weather.
- 【Function】3D printer air controller contains three functions, one is heating, one is Air circulation, and the other is filtering. When the temperature is lower than the set temperature, start heating; when the temperature reaches the set temperature, start fan circulation. Built in a small activated carbon filters, which can filter odor.
$69.99
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Bestseller No. 4
Creality Official HALOT-ONE (CL-60) Resin 3D Printer with Precise Intergral Light Source, WiFi Control and Fast Printing,Dual Cooling & Filtering System, Assembled Out of The Box
- 【SELF-DEVELOPED LIGHT SOURCE】Creality self-developed optical system of new generation compared with the directional matrix light source, HALOT-ONE adopts has the absolute advantages of 20% higher precision, 30% higher uniformity and 99% higher saturation, which perfectly solves the problems such as uneven light curing, overexposure as well as corrugated layer on the printed models.
- 【POWERFUL KRENEL】Halot-One is equipped self-developed mainboard of new generation boasts a main control chip equipped with the ARM cortex-A53 64-bit pro-cessor to embrace a strong computing capability and data processing capability,realize leapfrog upgrade and greatly reduce the power consumption.
- 【5.0" DIGITAL HD TOUCH SCREEN】HALOT-ONE 3D Printer is equipped with 5.0" monochrome 2K LCD whose resolution is up to 1620*2560,printing status, functions and parameter setting are clearly displayed,New Friendly UI Interface, easy to use and learn.
- 【EFFICIENT COOLING AND FILTRATION SYSTEM】Creality specially designs the dual cooling systems for quick heat release.Activated carbon air filtration system can effectively reduce the odor emission.
- 【CREALITY 3D OFFICIAL STORE】We are the ONLY official Creality 3D store! We provide a 1-year limited and lifetime technical assistance: more than 20 engineers provide professional customer service.Professional customer service has always been a cornerstone of our company philosophy.
$199.00
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Bestseller No. 5
Creality HALOT ONE Resin 3D Printer with 5.96 inches 2K Mono LCD, Intergral Light Source and Fast Printing, Precise Z-axis Module and WiFi Control, Assembled Out of The Box
- INTEGRAL LIGHT SOURCE-This Creality resin printer uses new generation optical system, which adopts the light principle of reflection+refraction. Compared with the directional matrix light source, the integral light source makes the light intensity distribution of the whole screen uniform and each dimension of the model with consistent accuracy. The advantages of high precision, high saturation and 80%+ uniformity, perfectly solves all kinds of defective printing.
- HIGH PERFORMANCE MAINBOARD-Self-developed new generation mainboard boasts a main control chip equipped with the ARMcortex-M4 processor to embrace a strong computing capability and data processing capability, realize leapfrog upgrade and greatly reduce the power consumption.
- FAST PRINTING AND PRECISE RESULTS-Creality SLA Printer is equipped with a 5.96 inches monochrome LCD of 2K HD 2560x1620 resolution, only taking 1-4s/layer exposure to cure resin, which could significantly increase your printing efficiency and save your time. Moreover, monochrome LCD screen has a much longer lifespan and stable performance during long-time printing, saving costs for you and ensuring incredible printing quality.
- 5" DIGITAL HD TOUCH SCREEN-The 3d resin printer HALOT ONE is equipped with 5 inches brand new touch screen with simple interface for easy human-computer interaction,clear visual effect and strong control sense. Printing status, functions and parameter setting are clearly displayed. Supports 9 languages and bring innovative experience
- PRECISE Z-AXIS MODULE-The Z-axis of 3d printers resin is designed to have linear rails and T-shape screw rod. Steadiness enables super smooth movement, effectively reducing the layer texture and the risk of layer deviation. Complicated task can be perfectly delivered.
$159.00
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Bestseller No. 6
3D Printer, Intelligent APP Control AI 3D Desktop Printer,Fast Printing, Photo Modeling,Auto Levelling,Built-in Model Library,Printing Size 3.9'' x 3.9'' x 2.3'' Inch
- 【AI Photo Modeling】: No need for a separate scanner. Just take a picture or enter a picture and upload it through the app, the AI algorithm uses a deep neural network to extract 3D features, and finally generates a realistic frontal 3D model
- 【3D printer Filament box】: The box is for better protection of Filament. You can unscrew the screws on your back by yourself with a screwdriver. Then replace the used 3D printer Filament
- 【Free model library】: DIY model library, born for enthusiasts. Users upload models themselves. Tens of thousands of product models have been added one after another, covering cartoon animation and life encyclopedia. It's the ideal way to start exploring the world of 3D modeling for beginners, hobbyists and experts, and it's easy to use for all ages
- 【Environmental Craftsmanship】: In order to get a smoother model surface and no clogging problem, we developed our exclusive PLA Filament Box. Accurate, non-toxic, and safe for children. Environmental awareness. Better for print, better for earth. Compatible with other PLA materials on the market
- 【High-Precision Printing】:Comes with a fast printing process with speeds up to 80 mm/s. A motherboard with a 1.4GHz quad-core processor and self-developed silent driver provides faster processing along with an integrated AI motion control algorithm and wireless IoT.Printing at 0.04-0.35mm layer thickness, has an incredibly high resolution.
$145.00
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Bestseller No. 7
BIGTREETECH Octopus V1.1 32bit Control Board + TFT35 E3 V3.0.1 Touch Screen Display + 8xTMC2209 V1.3 Stepper Motor Driver DIY for Voron V2.4 3D Printer Controller Board Support Klipper Raspberry Pi
- ⭐SUPER PERFORMANCE CHIP: BIGTREETECH Octopus control adopts 32-bit ARM-level Cortex-M4 series STM32F446ZET6 chip with a frequency of up to 180MHz, and supports 8 stepper motors. Equipped with highly modular open source firmware Marlin2.0, which greatly improves the overall performance of the motherboard, and all the functions of the motherboard do not require any expansion modules, and supports running Klipper and Marlin firmware
- ⭐SUPER MULTI-FUNCTION CONTROL PANEL: Support material interruption detection, continuous printing after power failure, shutdown after printing, BL_Touch, support online printing, etc. Upgrading the configuration firmware through the SD card, the operation is simple, convenient and efficient. Using high-performance MOSFET, the heat dissipation effect is better.
- ⭐MULTI-FUNCTION DISPLAY: TFT35 E3 V3.0.1 touch screen has higher compatibility. You can choose two working modes: UART serial screen mode and 12864 screen mode. The WIFI port is reserved, and the WIFI function is implemented by an external WIFI module.SD card update firmware is simple and convenient, download from our github, copy and save to SD card
- ⭐ULTRA-QUIET DRIVER: TMC2209 v1.3 with SpreadCycle technology, enables high precision cycle-by-cycle current control for the highest dynamic motion. Large area thermal pad to reduce the temperature of the drive during operation. The motor is difficult to lose step. Can prevent motor vibration. The module supports STEP/DIR and UART modes.
- ⭐WORRY-FREE AFTER-SALES SERVICE: Do you have any questions? Or if you have any problems that need to be solved, please feel free to contact us, and we will arrange the most professional technical team to solve it for you until you are satisfied.
$122.99
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SaleBestseller No. 8
Creality Official 3D Printer CR-10 Smart WiFi Cloud Remote Control and Auto Leveling, Unique Silentboard Design with UL Certificated Meanwell Power Large Build Volume 300x300x400mm
- 【WIFI Control Print】 CR-10 Smart 3d printer supports both WIFI & RJ45 wired network connection. With the Creality Cloud APP, you can easily slice 3D models, remote control your printers, and print an object whenever and wherever with your phone.
- 【Ultra-silent Design】Self-developed 32-bit patented mute mainboard, low-noise power supply, and highly efficient cooling fans ensure a silent 3D printing experience. The noise is reduced by 25% compared with our printers in industry.
- 【Intelligent Auto-leveling】With the V2.0 auto-leveling system, Creality CR-10 Smart 3d printer will automatically measure the height of 16 unique points on the heated bed to determine the ideal settings for perfect prints every time.
- 【Screen Protection & Auto-shutdown】The screen will dim if there's no manual operation in 30 mins to save power. And it's environmentally friendly. After the model is completed, the machine will auto shutdown to save power and effort.
- 【Creality Official 3D Printer Store】Our 3d printers have to go through strict quality inspection tests(such as UL,CE,FCC,and ROHS,etc) before sending, please rest assured to buy. At the same time, Creality 3d printer has more than 20 technicians to provide 24/7 technical service and one-year warranty, so if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly via "Ask a Question".
Bestseller No. 9
MYNT3D Super 3D Pen, 1.75mm ABS and PLA Compatible 3D Printing Pen
- Turn your ordinary drawings into 3D works of art
- Stepless speed slider lets you regulate flow for optimal control of material while you're drawing
- New: ultrasonic sealed nozzle is nearly clog-proof and provides market leading durability
- The Super 3D Printing Pen is great for kids, artists and engineers of all ages
- Kit includes 3 colors of PLA plastic filament A/C adapter and slim, ergonomic touch pen with 1 year limited warranty
$39.99
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Bestseller No. 10
![CorelCAD 2021 Education Edition | CAD Software | 2D Drafting, 3D Design & 3D Printing [PC Download] [Old Version]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51r+oDWjIaL._SL160_.jpg)
CorelCAD 2021 Education Edition | CAD Software | 2D Drafting, 3D Design & 3D Printing [PC Download] [Old Version]
- Academic Eligibility: accredited schools, faculties, full or part-time students, non-profit charitable and religious organizations; not for commercial use. See full list under Product Description.
- Achieve outstanding results with an affordable collection of powerful tools, purpose-built for architecture, engineering, construction (AEC), and manufacturing professionals
- Delivers control and precision with professional 2D drafting tools for creating, editing, and annotating technical designs
- Transform your project sketches to 3D printing and other output in no time with intuitive 3D modeling and editing tools
- Adjust to any working environment and collaborate effortlessly with full AutoCAD .DWG file format compatibility
Best 3d Printer Controllers Buying Guide
Before choosing the best 3D printer controller you should consider following options:
1. RAM Memory: RAM memory is the fastest form of computer memory. It acts as a temporary storage location for the operating system and program files a computer uses.
For 3D printer controllers, RAM memory is used to store information while programs run. It is important that you purchase a 3D printer controller with enough RAM memory to run the programs you will use.
If you are planning to print large, complex objects, you will need a 3D printer controller with at least 1GB of RAM memory. If you are using your 3D printer controller for simpler 3D printing jobs, 512MB will be enough.
2. Flash Memory: Flash memory is a non-volatile storage medium. This means that it can store information even when the power is off.
The information stored in flash memory is used to control the printer’s functions. 3D printer controllers with more flash memory have a higher level of customization.
If you are new to 3D printing and are unsure what settings to use when printing, a 3D printer controller with a limited amount of flash memory may be best.
3. ROM Memory: ROM memory is a non-rewritable form of computer memory that holds an operating system and program instructions.
For a 3D printer controller, ROM memory is used to store the operating system. A higher amount of ROM memory allows the 3D printer controller to run more efficiently and with fewer errors.
A 3D printer controller with 512MB of ROM memory is recommended for new users. Experienced users may find that a 3D printer controller with 1GB of ROM memory is more than enough.
What else you should know about 3d printer controllers
1. What are the different types of 3D printer controllers?
There are three main types of printer controllers:
1. Stand-alone controllers: These controllers are typically dedicated to a single printer and are not connected to a network. They are typically used for lower-end printers.
2. Embedded controllers: These controllers are built into the printer itself and are used for mid-range and high-end printers.
3. Networked controllers: These controllers are connected to a network and can be used to control multiple printers.
2. What are the benefits of using a 3D printer controller?
A printer controller is a device that helps manage printing jobs and sends them to the appropriate printer. It can be used to monitor the progress of print jobs, track printer usage, and control access to printers.
3. What are the features of a 3D printer controller?
Some features of a printer controller may include:
-The ability to connect to and control multiple printers simultaneously
-A user-friendly interface for managing print jobs
-Support for a variety of printing technologies (e.g., inkjet, laser, thermal, etc.)
-Advanced features for managing color printing, paper size and orientation, and other print job settings
4. How does a 3D printer controller work?
A printer controller is a device that connects a printer to a computer. It allows the computer to send data to the printer and receive data from the printer.
5. What are the limitations of a 3D printer controller?
Some printer controllers only work with specific types of printers, so if you change printers you may need to also change the controller. Printers also require specific types and amounts of ink or toner, which the controller may not be able to accommodate.
Conclusion
On the market, there are numerous best 3d printer controllers. Hopefully, the list of the top ten best 3d printer controllers will save you time researching and deciding on the best one for you.